It has been determined that with the increasing use of relatively weak walls used on the interiors of houses and commercial buildings, nominally the use of gypsum material wallboard having a thickness of 1/2 inch to 1 inch, it is increasingly common for holes to be knocked or punched through the wallboard between the wall studs. These holes can be caused by a door handle swinging around to engage and punch through the wallboard, to a person driving their fist through the wallboard. In any event, holes are created in the wallboard and for any of numerous reasons, obviously must be repaired. Presently these repairs are accomplished by what is perhaps the most common method, that of sticking wadded-up newspaper into the void between the two sides of the wall there, through the normal resistance in being wadded, the newspaper provides a backing against which plaster may reside. After the newspaper has been wadded-up and placed into the volume between the two pieces of wallboard, the plaster is then placed into the hole, the operator hoping that the plaster itself will provide strength to the patch job. The plaster is allowed to dry and then the outside of the path prepared by sanding and painting.
Now it has been known, through the use of this method, that the plaster, over a period of time, continues to dehydrate and thereby to shrink slightly. This shrinkage, though slight, will crack at its border and cause an outline of the opening which was repaired, to appear in the wall. In some minor cases, this outline may be covered over by additional painting, or by placing putty on the wall, sanding same, and then painting again. In any event, this causes a great deal of problem and does not provide a good patch repair job. In addition, it is very common for the plaster to develop cracks within itself, or to chip and thus causing more repair work.
Now there have been devices invented which do provide a backing material, cemented to the interior surface of the wallboard, to receive and substantially provide a stop for the plaster filling the opening in the wallboard. For example, Tinner, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,193,243, illustrates such a device where a rectangular plate is placed within the wall void, and cemented to the interior of the wall surface. The volume within the opening in the wallboard between the outside surface and the perforated plate shown in Tinner is then filled with plaster or other repair material. Thereafter, the surface of the patch is prepared. Shortcomings of Tinner are obvious, firstly that the original opening in the wallboard must be increased in size from the original opening in order to take the plate which has been prepared for use in the repair.
Secondly, the most important, Tinner does not take into account the long term drying shrinkage that plaster materials go through as they dehydrate over a period of time. As a consequence, the patch repair anticipated by Tinner will develop a rectangular shaped outline of the opening which was repaired as the plaster material withdraws from the sides of the opening. This, as earlier mentioned, will then develop as a crack in the paint which will make the outline of the opening quite visible, requiring additional repair. Cracking and or chipping of the repair plaster are additional problems which develop over time.
Other devices and repair kits have been developed by different inventors, however, all the prior art that the Applicant is aware of does not take into account the shrinkage of the repair material over extended periods of time, and the resultant consequences thereof.
As a consequence, it is apparent there is a need for a wall repair method and apparatus which does not require the operator to additionally repair the job as the patch material continues to dry and shrink.